A summer of many journeys...

It's been awhile since my last blog entry and I feel as though I've lived a lifetime during these past two months. We started a 2 weeklong vacation in North Carolina with kids and dogs at the beach. We rented an adorable little cottage in Kure Beach, very near where Tommy went to college at UNC-Wilmington. It was my first time there to see his stomping grounds and I rolled my eyes at how tough he had it going to "University of the Beach". Poor guy...

We then headed to his Mom's for the second week and a quick 4th of July day with the Hoke clan. We love staying at that little cottage in the woods. Unfortunately our time there was cut short and we left to drive through the night when my mother became very ill back in Michigan. My mother had been steadily declining in her health over the past few months and sadly left us on July 16th. The time we spent with her these last few months and even the 2 and a half years that she was with us in Michigan were priceless moments that I will never forget. But no matter how much you prepare, you can never prepare yourself for the loss of a parent.

It has been a surreal summer of ups and downs and now we enter the end of summer with Tommy in 2 a day football camp and working 17 hour days. Drew has started freshman football and the summer for us is really over sadly. We look forward to the start of football season on Labor Day weekend with a game on Friday night, September 2nd versus Youngstown State. I'll attach a few highlights of our summer...

I'll start with a wonderful photo of Mom and Dad from many years ago, this is exactly how I remember them both for the majority of my childhood

kids, dogs and me at the beach. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach but we snuck em on around twilight. We got busted the last day though so no more beachtime for the doggies which was a bummer because they loved it!

our cottage kitty - free of charge!

Tommy arrived in Wilmington on Thursday and the kids were glad to see him!

After summer conditioning this is about all the exertion he wanted to have

Later in July we were treated to a weekend retreat with the football staff and families. We started with a boat ride around the harbor in Harbor Springs

This is a pic of Me with George Blaha, the voice of Spartan Radio and a generally great man!

the ladies of Spartan Football on the boat

and a few of the guys

hubby and me on the boat

the 2011 media guide family pic - this time featuring the ENTIRE Hoke family!

and finally the last addition to our beautiful Zen Garden, Buddha who sits atop the waterfall and brings peace and serenity and a beautiful bonsai tree below him. All brought there by wonderful family and friends to remember Mom and Dad and honor their amazing lives.

Spring Cleanup, Pond draining, landscaping and koi karnage...

Well we went about our usual spring cleanup of the pond with Tommy draining the pond, donning waders and scooping the fish out to a large trash can filled with pond water. Since we were able to drain, clean and refill the pond in one day we didn't think we needed to put the air bubbler in the trash can with the fish. Boy were we wrong. This is the second or third time we've watched as our poor fish make it through the winter under the ice, greet us in the spring ready to be fed and have the algae and sludge cleaned out of their home only to be  carelessly handled by us in that endeavor and sent on their way to fish heaven. Man we felt really badly about that. Part of the learning curve I suppose and we now know never to move them without adequate aeration even if only for a short time. We lost our largest two koifish but the smaller guys survived. We also decided on Mother's Day weekend that we needed to dig up the grass alongside the bamboo fence that the dogs had peed into oblivion with no real chance of ever looking like grass again. We have made that into a nice perennial garden of sorts with some Japanese flair.

This is an idea of how nasty the water and algae are in the spring

can't really see all of the algae blooms and string algae but it's rampant!

getting prepped with the power washer and the trash can of death... :-(

Tommy scooping fish. Those are some mighty fine lookin waders! 

There's the big guy...last we saw of him alive sadly

power washing the pond

yitch

now onto dealing with the dog pee dead grass...

digging up the sod and replacing it with some landscaping like these cute little bonsai's, some perennials and Japanese Flame Grass

We moved the Japanese Maple next to the fence

Our awesome neighbor Tom came over with his wife Kris and our other neighbor Nancy with bloody mary's for Mother's Day! He ended up getting put to work! Thanks Tom!

we supervised...

Tom and Tommy digging up dead sod

and here we have the after effects of all of the hard work!

no more algae!

flowers planted and pond plants coming back

 the fence behind the pond will be finished this summer to match the rest of the cedar/bamboo picture frame fence around the yard

the Belizean hammock is up and some azaleas and rhododendrons planted this year!

outdoor living room and Zen area back in business!

Wow! What a difference from before and after!

It took us a month of digging up, cleaning up and replanting but it's all worth it in the end! We can finally enjoy our backyard and the summer months of Zen Garden time! It's a vacation right in our backyard! Come on over... the Zen is OPEN!

Nature's beauty...found right in our backyard!

I don't fancy myself as much of an Audubon Society type, despite being dragged on a birding expedition with my friend Nancy in Belize in search of the ever elusive Jabiru Stork! But you have to be blind not to recognize and appreciate those rare and beautiful birds that happen upon our backyard. I have only ever seen one Indigo Bunting before and it was in a tree way far off in the distance. But you can't miss that brilliant blue bird! And guess what? It has decided to take up residence in my backyard! It has come back nearly every day for almost a week now! I have no idea what it seems to be enjoying but I continue to throw every seed imaginable out there in hopes it likes one of them. With any luck it may mate around here and we will get to see the entire family!

I finally got him on film!

He always eats off the ground

I had an oriole come in a week ago so I put up and oriole feeder for the first time ever!

and now they're here in droves!

that's an orange on top, sugar water in the bottom and grape jelly of all things in the little dishes on top. They love it and empty the jelly out daily!!

Then Mr. Bunting came back again this morning

If I thought it would bring in a drove of indigo buntings I'd put up a bright blue feeder! I don't think it works that way though... if anyone knows how to bring em in please comment! I have no idea what he's eating but he's been back every day and I'm loving it.

Spartan Spring game and fun with former players!

Well we actually had really nice weather for once for the spring game! A little chilly but no complaints since there was NO rain for a change! Tommy was coaching on the White team and we had our friend Alex Haugen as our special guest on the sidelines with Tommy. He had a great day! The Green team won so it looks like steak dinner for them and hot dogs and beans for the losing team. Haha! We had a bunch of the former players over for a BBQ at our house afterwards. Good times!

Drew and Alex pre-game

Alex with Coach Hoke

Alex giving BJ Cunningham some coaching tips

Kirk Cousins' brother and friends! Way to show him spirit!

Alex gets coached up by Coach Hoke!

#67 Joel Foreman meets the recipient of his jersey!

Blair White, Javon Ringer, Jehuu Caulcrick get recognition for being in the NFL

Draymond Green from the basketball team tries out football...he should stick with hoops!

Jehuu bet the boys they couldn't push him 5 yards...

He won

Boys pose with Big 10 trophy and Tommy's Big ten ring

Tommy's bling and mine too!

Bunch of the guys at the house afterwards

Me with my boys Travis Key and Otis Wiley

Yo dawg!